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The Embedded Debian Project http://www.emdebian.org/
Emdebian GNU/Linux Grip 1.0 released press@debian.org
February 14th, 2009 http://www.emdebian.org/News/2009/20090214.html
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Emdebian Grip 1.0 (lenny) has been released
===========================================
February 14th, 2009
The Emdebian Project is very pleased to announce the official release
of two flavours of Embedded Debian - Emdebian Grip 1.0 and Emdebian
Crush 1.0, each based on Debian GNU/Linux version 5.0 (codenamed
"lenny"), after several years of constant development.
Emdebian GNU/Linux Grip 1.0 (based on Debian 5.0 "lenny").
==========================================================
A small Debian-compatible Emdebian installation
Emdebian Grip 1.0 (lenny) is a smaller Debian that is binary compatible
with Debian and based around a small set of Debian packages intended
for embedded machines. Emdebian Grip 1.0 provides complete repositories
of packages for seven architectures (i386, amd64, powerpc, arm, armel,
mips and mipsel), based on coreutils, glibc and perl. Grip includes
support for standard Debian tools like debootstrap and debian-installer
and no functional changes compared to Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 "lenny".
Installations of Emdebian Grip 1.0 will work with standard Debian tools
like debootstrap, debian-installer and maybe debian-live - as long as
the device has enough space to generate such systems.
Emdebian Grip can support building packages (although this currently
requires using packages from Debian and is untested) and can be
installed as a simple migration from Debian in the normal ways. Indeed,
the recommended way to install Emdebian Grip 1.0 is to use the Debian
5.0 "lenny" installer in Automatic Installation mode to install a
Debian base system and use pre-seeding to migrate to Grip during the
installation process.
Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (Lenny) includes the new ARM EABI port, "Armel".
This new port provides a more efficient use of both modern and future
ARM processors. As a result, the old ARM port (arm) has now been
deprecated for both Debian and Emdebian Grip.
This release includes numerous updated software packages, such as the
Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment, X.Org 7.3, Iceweasel (an unbranded
version of Mozilla Firefox 3.0.6), Linux kernel version 2.6.26, Python
2.5.2 and 2.4.6, Perl 5.10.0 and more than 1,000 other ready to use
software packages.
With the integration of X.org 7.3 the X server autoconfigures itself
with most hardware. Newly introduced packages allow the full support of
NTFS filesystems or the usage of most multimedia keys out of the box.
Overall improvements for notebooks have been introduced, like out of
the box support of CPU frequency scaling.
Further improvement regarding the security of the system include the
installation of available security updates before the first reboot by
the installation system, the reduction of setuid root binaries and open
ports in the standard installation as well as building several
security-critical packages with GCC Hardening features. Various
applications have specific improvements, too.
For non native English speaking users the package management systems
now support translated package descriptions which will automatically
show the description of a package in the native language of the user if
available.
Debian GNU/Linux can be installed from various installation media such
as DVDs, CDs, USB sticks and floppies, or from the network. XFCE is the
default desktop environment for Emdebian Grip 1.0.
The installation process for Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 has been improved in
many ways: among many other improvements, firmware required by some
devices can be loaded by using removable media and installations via
braille display are supported. The installer boot process has also
received much attention: a graphical menu can be used to choose
front-ends and desktop environments, and to select expert or rescue
mode. The installation system for Debian GNU/Linux has now been
translated to 63 languages.
Debian GNU/Linux can be downloaded right now via bittorrent (the
recommended way), jigdo or HTTP; see Debian GNU/Linux on CDs for
further information. The recommended media for Emdebian Grip is USB
stick. It will soon be available on DVD, CD-ROM and Blu-ray Disc from
numerous vendors, too.
Upgrades to Emdebian Grip GNU/Linux 1.0 from the previous Debian
releases, are automatically handled by the apt package management tool
for most configurations. As always, Debian GNU/Linux systems can be
upgraded painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime, but it is
strongly recommended to read the release notes for possible issues and
for detailed instructions on installing and upgrading.
Release names
=============
Full release title:
Emdebian GNU/Linux Grip 1.0 (based on Debian GNU/Linux 5.0
"lenny"). Short release name:
Emdebian Grip 1.0 (lenny)
Common release names:
Emdebian Grip or Grip (lenny)
Please use these names if promoting the releases elsewhere.
Grip and Crush are a play on words for the next Debian release -
"squeeze". Emdebian will continue to use the Grip and Crush titles for
future releases and will continue to use the unstable, testing and
stable suite names. Future releases are intended to continue following
Debian in the codenames (lenny, squeeze etc.) and be tied firmly to
Debian release schedules.
More information: http://www.emdebian.org/grip/
Dedication
==========
Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 "Lenny" is dedicated to Thiemo Seufer, a Debian
Developer who died on December 26th, 2008 in a tragic car accident.
Thiemo was involved in Debian and Emdebian in many ways. He has
maintained several packages and was the main supporter of the Debian
port to the MIPS architectures. He was also a member of our kernel
team, as well as a member of the Debian Installer team. His
contributions reached far beyond the Debian project. He also worked on
the MIPS port of the Linux kernel, the MIPS emulation of qemu, and far
too many smaller projects to be named here.
Thiemo's work, dedication, broad technical knowledge and ability to
share this with others will be missed. The contributions of Thiemo will
not be forgotten. The high standards of Thiemos work make it hard to
pick up.
Thiemo also contributed to Emdebian and so the first ever release of
Emdebian to be available on MIPS (Grip 1.0) is also dedicated to his
memory.
About Debian
============
Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, developed by more than a
thousand volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the
Internet. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature,
and its open development model make it unique among GNU/Linux
distributions.
The Debian project's key strengths are its volunteer base, its
dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to provide
the best operating system possible. Debian 5.0 is another important
step in that direction.
Contact Information
===================
For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at
http://www.debian.org/, the Emdebian web pages at
http://www.emdebian.org/ or send mail to <press@debian.org>.
--
Neil Williams
=============
http://www.data-freedom.org/
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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